Recognition of same-sex unions in Greece

Greece recognizes same-sex unions by allowing same-sex couples to enter into cohabitation agreements since 24 December 2015. A bill allowing such unions was approved by the Hellenic Parliament on 23 December 2015 and published in the government gazette the following day.

The Government of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, which governed until October 2009, was opposed to same-sex marriage. The New Democracy-led Government had proposed legislation that offers several rights to unmarried couples, but only applies to opposite-sex couples. If introduced, the law was expected to be declared unconstitutional or against EU principles if brought to Greek or European Courts.

The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) under George Papandreou, then in opposition, presented in April 2006, a legislative proposal for the recognition of unmarried couples, homosexual and heterosexual, following the French example of the Civil solidarity pact. However, according to some LGBT groups, the proposal's controversial terminology made little headway on LGBT rights and PASOK's proposed partnership banned same-sex couples from adopting. In November 2008, PASOK once again submitted a draft law on civil partnership, even though it made no progress in the legislature.

Responding to government proposals in 2008 to introduce legal rights for cohabiting couples, Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens, the most respected-bishop of the Church of Greece, suggested that "There is a need to change with the time". It is unclear, however, whether this view applied to same-sex couples, particularly as the Church has previously opposed LGBT rights in general and civil union laws in particular.

The Law no. 3719/2008 ("Reforms concerning the family, children and society"), which entered into force on 26 November 2008, established a form of partnership known as "civil unions" (σύμφωνο συμβίωσης), only available to opposite-sex couples.

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Wikipedia